Johann Conrad Beissel (March 1, 1691 – July 6, 1768) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

-born

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

leader who in 1732 founded the

Ephrata Community The Ephrata Cloister or Ephrata Community was a religious community, established in 1732 by Johann Conrad Beissel at Ephrata, in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The grounds of the community are now owned by the Commonwealth of Penn ...

in the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

.For the correct date of his birth see Alderfer, Everett Gordon: ''The Ephrata Commune'', Pittsburgh, 1985, p. 14, 219.

Background

Beissel was born in Eberbach then part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

, and emigrated to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1720. Beissel had intended to join a commune of hermits founded there by

Johannes Kelpius Johannes Kelpius (; 1667 – 1708) was a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer. He was also interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy. He came to believe with his followers – called the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" – ...

, but Kelpius had died in 1708. Beissel met with Conrad Matthaei, an associate who became his principal spiritual confidant. The group around Kelpius had arrived in 1694. They settled on a ridge above the

Wissahickon Creek Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania. Wissahickon Creek rises in Montgomery County, runs approximately 23 miles (37 km) passing through and dividing Northwest ...

. There they prayed, meditated, and watched the stars looking for signs of the coming kingdom of Christ. They also taught children of the community. Some were celibate until death; others married. In 1732 Beissel established a semi-monastic Baptist community called the Camp of the Solitary, with a convent (the Sister House) and a monastery (the Brother House) at

Ephrata Ephrata may refer to: Places * Ephrata, Suriname * Ephrata, Pennsylvania, U.S. *Ephrata, Washington, U.S. * Ephrata Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. Other uses *Ephrata Cloister, a religious community in Ephrata, Pennsylvania See also * * Efrata or E ...

, in what is now

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Lengeschder Kaundi), sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the south central part of Pennsylvania. ...

. Celibacy was considered a virtue, but not obligatory. Each member adopted a new name, and Beissel was called Friedsam, to which the community afterward added the title of Gottrecht. Believing families settled near the community, accepted Beissel as their spiritual leader, and worshipped with the community on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...

. They were influenced by

Schwarzenau Brethren The Schwarzenau Brethren, the German Baptist Brethren, Dunkers, Dunkards, Tunkers, or sometimes simply called the German Baptists, are an Anabaptist group that dissented from Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed European state churches during t ...

thought.

Beissel served as the community's composer as well as its spiritual leader. He devised his own system of musical composition intended to simplify the process by relying on pre-determined sequences of "master notes" and "servant notes" to create harmony. This was mentioned in

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

's '' Doctor Faustus'' as a precursor to

serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...

. Beissel's colony was noted for its printing facilities. After Beissel's death and the disruption of the war years of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, the utopian community declined in population. Failing to attract sufficient members, its people assimilated into the general Baptist community.

Veganism

Beissel was one of the first

vegetarians Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

in North America who was motivated by Christian religious belief. The entire Ephrata community reportedly abstained from meat eating, which Beissel considered spiritually undesirable.Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2004). ''Vegetarian America: A History''. Praeger Publishing. p. 3. Beissel invented a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

diet for the Ephrata community that excluded all

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

. His diet consisted of

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as '' Fago ...

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

, fruit, green vegetables,

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

Works

ed. Peter C. Erb, ''Johann Conrad Beissel and the Ephrata Community. Mystical and Historical Texts'', Lewiston, NY: 1985 (contains selected works)

References

External links

"Beisel, Johann Konrad (1690–1768)"
''Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online'' * Bach, Jeff: ''Voices of the turtledoves : the sacred world of Ephrata'', Göttingen 2003

An examination of parallels between the music and worldviews of Beissel and

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beissel, Conrad 1691 births 1768 deaths 18th-century Christian mystics American members of the Church of the Brethren American veganism activists Radical Pietism Seventh Day Baptists Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire to the Thirteen Colonies Founders of utopian communities Clergy of Brethren denominations Protestant mystics People from Ephrata, Pennsylvania Ephrata Cloister People of colonial Pennsylvania Proto-vegans

Background

Veganism

Works

References

Further reading

External links